The E-mail Campaigns

I was bouncing around online waiting for my working day to finish when I came across this from ChesterChronicle.co.uk

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BRIAN READE – lifelong Reds fan, former ECHO writer and now a Daily Mirror journalist – has documented the ill-fated years when Tom Hicks and George Gillett owned Liverpool FC. In the second of two extracts, he recalls how people power drove the Americans out

Extracted from An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys, published by Quercus at £12.99.

THE SANDON is a big, working-class pub on a bleak, semi-derelict road, unremarkable except for the fact that on March 15, 1892, in one of its snugs, Liverpool Football Club came screaming and kicking into the world.

Back in those pre-Boer war days the Sandon was where the players would change into their knickerbockers and directors and fans would take porter and ale before ambling to a patch of grass a goalie’s clearance away, called Anfield.

What better venue then for the descendants of those Victorian pioneers to gather 116 years later to formulate a way of reclaiming the old club? The news that Tom Hicks and George Gillett were attempting to refinance their initial loans by putting £350 million of debt on LFC lit the fuse that sparked a fans’ explosion.

Supporters group Reclaim The Kop called for a mass demonstration at the game against Aston Villa on January 21 and towards the end fans sang the chant that would become a classic of the cause: “ Get out of our club, you lying b******s, get out of our club.”

Peter Hooton, lead singer of The Farm and a lifelong Liverpool fan, was conscious of a group called Liverpool Supporters Network, who were trying to bring websites and fanzines together to unite against the Americans. He contacted the men behind it, Andy Heaton and Dave Usher and proposed that instead of everyone being a website warrior in their own bedroom, they held face-to-face meetings and worked out a proper line of attack.

The idea of a mass meeting appealed to Hooton but he feared it could get out of control and descend into a futile gesture if it wasn’t properly run. So he brought in Paul Rice, who was a former chair of the Broadgreen Labour Party. Hooton’s thinking was that if you could control a meeting of the Broadgreen Labour Party back in the Militant days, you could control any gathering.

Rice felt he needed the Americans’ financial situations analysed and clarified so he contacted Dave Elder, a New York financial expert, asked him to pick the bones out of Hicks’ and Gillett’s dealings and send him a fool’s translation. Which he did.

“We circulated it at the meeting and basically it began to explain how the Americans had structured their debt and how it was starting to come back on to the club,” said Rice. “I think that was the first time we’d actually realised the severity of the situation and were able to explain what a leverage buyout was.

“The Americans were the on-going target but there was actually an appetite out there to do something much wider and that’s really how the idea of a supporters union came up rather than a single issue protest group.”

As 350 fans packed into the back hall of the pub, the air crackled with anticipation. Every major fan group was there: Reclaim the Kop, the Urchins, fanzines, the websites and forums. It was like the coming together of the five families in The Godfather.

At this point the union of support groups called themselves the Sons Of Shankly after playwright Nicky Allt’s inspired suggestion. It was changed to Spirit Of Shankly to keep the politically correct lobby happy and maintain the SOS message.

As events moved on, radical members wanted to adopt a more aggressive approach by taking the fight directly to the Americans and Spirit Of Shankly organisers knew that smarter, more lateral thinking was called for. The idea of Kop Faithful was to build up a following of like-minded fans who wanted to take direct action to organise internet campaigns. They ended up with 15,000 recruits who could engage in swift, concerted cyber attacks. The SOS had its SAS.

The Royal Bank Of Scotland, whose continued funding allowed Hicks and Gillett to survive, bore the brunt of the first wave of Kop Faithful cyber terrorism.

An RBS senior executive, Rebecca Oliphant, who replied sympathetically to an email from Kop Faithful member Steve Horner left her contact details and within hours her inbox was bombarded by hundreds of mails from Liverpool fans urging the bank not to refinance Hicks and Gillett. When she was telephoned for a response, Oliphant went ballistic. Far from scaring them off, the reaction made Kop Faithful realise how effective their campaign might become if they applied themselves.

They imagined the effect of a much bigger assault on every key executive of the company.

The process was simple. An e-mail will be put together by one of Kop Faithful’s handful of writers, it would be posted on the website with a list of recipients and instructions to copy, paste send and distribute among friends, fans, other websites and Facebook accounts. The young generation of techno-savvy fans overcame all obstacles placed in front of them by anti-spamming agencies.

Every Monday morning senior employees of RBS would turn up for work, switch on their computers only to be faced with several thousand anti-Hicks and Gillett e-mails clogging up the inbox.

Then, as the October refinancing deadline approached and Hicks began looking elsewhere for backers, the game changed. Whenever a bank, hedge fund or equity house was linked to the Texan, the addresses of all key personnel would be unearthed, an e-mail would be posted and they would be made aware of who they were dealing with.

On Saturday, September 18, 2010 Kop Faithful learned that Hicks was on the verge of securing a two-year agreement with a company called Blackstone/GSO to pay off RBS and refinance.

By Sunday afternoon 14,000 e-mails hit the inboxes of Blackstone executives and those of allied companies. The message included the following: “If your company agrees a £280 million refinancing deal with Tom Hicks to retain his share in Liverpool Football Club then the only return that you will see on your investment is bad publicity and a severe backlash from Liverpool supporters.

“You are facing an energised, well-informed mass of Liverpool fans from around the world. We are tapped into a constant stream of information on the ownership situation.

“If the Blackstone Group/GSO Capital Partners joins forces with Tom Hicks in raping and pillaging Liverpool Football Club then you will be making a very powerful enemy. You have been warned.”

The following day as Kop Faithful member Alan Kayll drove around in his taxi he received texts telling him that Blackstone were rumoured to be pulling out. Armed with the telephone number of Michael Whitman, a senior Blackstone executive, he rang for clarification. He left a message on Whitman’s answerphone asking if the reports were true and requesting he called back by 10am the following day. “If you don’t call me back by then I’m going to put your name and phone number on every single Liverpool FC website,” Kayll warned.

Whitman replied to confirm the reports were accurate and added: “We have taken the passion and commitment of Liverpool supporters into this and I wish you well with your campaign.”

Soon afterwards a reporter on the Wall Street Journal rang from New York to ask Kayll about the story and said: “You do know that you crashed the entire Blackstone/GSO system?”

The following day Kayll and Kop Faithful were on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in a long article under the headline: “A Texas tycoon learns a lesson: don’t mess with Liverpudlians.”

There was scepticism in some quarters over whether Kop Faithful’s e-mail campaign actually killed the deal. We will never know the exact truth but there is no doubting the fact that the e-mail storm warning did have an impact on influential American decision-makers in those days when Hicks sought to refinance.

Hicks himself blamed the cyber terrorists for leaving him with nowhere to run. They may not have eventually trapped their prey but they bricked up a lot of the escape routes.

This is the part of the Hicks and Gillett saga that should fill Liverpudlians with genuine pride. It started as a gathering of 350 fans in the backroom of the Sandon pub and spawned a grassroots union, mass protest, media campaigns and Internet war. It led to meetings with representatives of some of the richest and most powerful men on earth and eventually made the Gordon Geckos of Wall Street quiver in their Prada shoes. Those fans refused to take what Hicks and Gillett were throwing at them.

They exposed the pair for what they were and made them pariahs in their own moneyed community.

No group of sports fans has ever left so many rich men feeling so powerless, confused and unsure about their decisions as Liverpool supporters did during those 44 months.

They did not ultimately evict the Americans from Anfield, the Royal Bank Of Scotland did, by taking them to court. But those fans made it increasingly difficult for the bank not to carry out the eviction.

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If there was one thing from the whole H&G ownership debacle it's that when we wanted them gone the fans came together like no other fans in the world and made sure that we got rid of them. I think this made for a much stronger, unionised fan base who are now more in the know about financial matters then most other rival fans. This article and the e-mail campaigns in general are a credit to Liverpool fans the world over in my opinion

 

It's amazing what supporters who are dedicated to the cause can do! It just sums up Liverpool supporters, passionate about their club to the extent they'd pay money to hire a NY financial expert to analyse the accounts and debts of the owners of the club. Not many supporters would do that. I am proud of what they achieved and I think they deserve recognition by LFC now as helping out a lot!

 

I'm just delighted it worked.Our greatest victory.Okay we won nothing on the pitch.But off it we ensured something thats more valuable for the long term future.We may be ridiculed and laughed at now,but there is going to be a time when the beast goes on the attack and destroys everything that stands in its way.The premiership has been warned.Liverpool are back,and are bigger,nastier and more ruthless than ever.

 

Wow. That shows that fan power is still alive in football. It shows how much Liverpool fans like ourselves care about our great football club. A quite simple idea seems to have had a massive impact. Makes you proud to be a Liverpool fan.

 

The power of our fans realy showed over this dark period.

I was one of the people who 'liked' (on facebook) that judge who thought he could bring us to a court of law in th US - and sent him the abuse he deserved.

It realy felt like a revolution! His page collapsed! Other people left him messages on his phone as he left his number on there, and his email.

Newspapers the day after quoted 'internet terrorism'. I'v never been so proud to be directly helping my club in it's time of need.

Also pleased our gov told their court to go **** themselves as they had no juristiction in England!

Probably the best thread i'v read on not606 bozz!

Game on!

 

This is my understanding of it having studied employment law.
Hicks and Gillet made a simple but costly mistake.
When they drew up Martin Broughtons contract of employment.They stated that one of his jobs as chairman of LFC was to sell the club.They didn't specify for a minimum of say £500 million.Martin Broughton completed his job and sold the club and fulfilled his part.He sold the club,therefore doing his job.In fact by attempting to prevent Martin Broughton from doing so,Hicks and Gillett were in fact in breach of Martin Broughtons contract of employment.Martin Broughton did nothing wrong,He did as he was told.A contract of employment is a legally binding agreement between two parties.Thats why he won.

 

Nicely put Pepe.

I cannot wait to read this book. Obviously it may be a little biased, but it will tell us more of what was happening behind the scene.

I remember being in shock when all of this happened. We had like a couple of days before we could of actualy gone under as a club. Then we thought we had won, then that judge piped up- and thats what realy set me off. What a ****ing arse that bloke is. We finally thought it was over, and then him!

 

There is one thing I'm a little bit disappointed about though.
I'm disappointed Hicks wasn't done for contempt of court.If he didn't agree to the sale by 4 p.m. that day,a warrant for his immediate arrest would have been issued.He would still have to agree to the sale,but he also faced a spell in prison.

 

Realy? I didn't know that. They were forced to sell in the end weren't they.

God I despise both of them. It was just unbelievable how open they were at sinking the club.

Relieved we have some actualy sports fans in charge now.

 

Yeah thats true.
Some sort of litigation.
If Hicks didn't conform by a certain time the UK Judge would have charged him with contempt of court.If he didn't agree by the specified time,He would have been immediately arrested and therefore spending a spell in prison.

 

Oh right. Well thank god we survived and they lost millions. Hope they go under.

We almost became the first major casualty of takeovers. There were plenty of people saying they don't disslike Liverpool, but we need a casualty to stop the spending. **** that, not our club!

 

As much as I despise Manchester United.I would hate for them to go under,their fans would say the same thing about us.Where would the fun be.We need all our rivals.Deep down,I hope they get decent owners,as I believe the Glazers are sucking them dry.But only when we're back on top ruling the roost.

 

Yer there's rivalry amongst teams, then there's the owners. There is a point where football has to come first, regardless of the shirt.

I would like United to come down a peg or two, but ceasing to exist is too much. Despite their debt, i dont see them suffering any time soon. The club makes a hell of a lot of money.

 

I can see them suffering.They will suffer when Ferguson goes.They will eventually become a top 6 side and nothing more.However wishing they would cease to exist is stupid.I actually would get upset if I couldn't take the piss out of their fans.

 

I think that was purely cosmetic because even though it was a Texan court the judge there was not pleased with Hicks for omitting the legalities applicable from the UK court in his suit. The Texan judge already knew they had no jurisdiction and had no intention of encroaching.

 

bet the man utd fans wish they had the "power"of liverpool fans <thumbs up>

 

wheres me thumbs up gone?

 

<*ok>

without the star

 

i used to post the cut n paste on 606 for other fans to join the campaign and used be ridiculed well now at least we know it had some effect

 

I agree with that,they that had the Red Nitwits and two failed 'Green and Vomit protests''.When you protest,you need power behind you a strong influence,United fans haven't a hope of ousting the Glazers whilst Gill and Ferguson are backing them.Liverpools power was RBS and 3 members of the board who didn't like what Hicks and Gillett were doing and thats why it succeeded.